For the past century, the owners of the fruit companies called our country "Banana Republic" and characterized our politicians as "cheaper than a mule" (as in the infamous Rolston letter).

Thousands of Hondurans protest at U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa

Honduras, a dignified nation, has had the misfortune of having a ruling class lacking in ethical principles that kowtows to U.S. transnational corporations, condemning our country to backwardness and extreme poverty.

We have been subject to horrible dictatorships that have enjoyed U.S. support, under the premise that an outlaw is good for us if he serves transnational interests well. We have reached the point that today we are treated as less than a colony to which the U.S. government does not even deign to appoint an ambassador. Your government has installed a dictatorship in the person of Mr. Hernández, who acts as a provincial governor--spineless and obedient toward transnational companies, but a tyrant who uses terror tactics to oppress his own people. Certain sectors of Honduran private industry have also suffered greatly from punitive taxes and persecution.

You, the people of the United States, have been sold the idea that your government defends democracy, transparency, freedom and human rights in Honduras. But the State Department and Heide Fulton, the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires who is serving as de facto Ambassador to Honduras, are supporting blatant electoral fraud favoring Mr. Hernández, who has repeatedly violated the Honduran Constitution and (as noted by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) basic human rights. He is responsible for the scandalous looting of USD $350 million from the Honduran Social Security Institute and while he lies to you shamelessly that he is fighting drug cartels, he has destroyed the rule of law by stacking the Supreme Court with justices loyal to him.

The people of the United States have the right to know that in Honduras your taxes are used to finance, train and run institutions that oppress the people, such as the armed forces and the police, both of which are well known to run death squads (like those that grew out of Plan Colombia) and which are also deeply integrated with drug cartels.

People of the United States: the immoral support of your government has been so two-faced that for eight consecutive years the U.S. Millenium Challenge Corporation has determined that the Hernandez regime does not qualify for aid because of the government’s corruption, failing in all measures of transparency. With this record, the Honduran people ask: Why is the U.S. Government willing to recognize as president a man who the Honduran people voted against, and who they wish to see leave office immediately?

People of the United States: We ask you to spread the word, to stand up to your government’s lies about supporting democracy, freedom, human rights and justice, and to demand that your elected representatives immediately end U.S. support for the scandalous electoral fraud against the people of Honduras, who have taken to the streets to demand recognition of the victory of the Alliance Against the Dictatorship and of President-Elect Salvador Alejandro César Nasralla Salúm.

We can tolerate difference and conflict, seeking peaceful solutions as a sovereign people, but your government’s intervention in favor of the dictatorship only exacerbates our differences.

The electoral fraud supported by the U.S. State Department in favor of the dictatorship has forced our people to protest massively throughout the country, despite savage government repression that has taken the lives of more than 34 young people since the election, and in which hundreds of protestors have been criminalized and imprisoned.

We stand in solidarity with the North American people; we share much more with you than the fact that the one percent has bought off the political leaders of both our nations.

As descendants of the Independence hero Morazán, we want to live in peace, with justice and in democracy.

The Honduran people want to have good relations with the United States, but with respect and reciprocity.

For
those who don’t know her, Sandra is a journalist who has worked political beats
for decades and for very challenging outlets for someone of her profession. Her
columns and opinions question and influence. They share characteristics that
are scarce in Honduran media: responsibility, ethics, veracity and tenacity.

What is going on today, December
19th, 2107 in Honduras?

What
is happening is that the formal institutional framework is a hollow shell,
which recognizes Juan Orlando Hernández as President of Honduras at the same
time there is a majority expression by the people in the streets resisting that
statement and the possibility of this man staying in power. This is because
people feel violated, abused, robbed by the Honduran authorities and also by
those organizations that send observation missions. The people know who they
voted for and that’s what they talk about in their barrios, their communities, in the public spaces.

With
all of the evidence that has come to light about the process it is evident that
Nasralla won the elections, and even people who didn’t believe in him, in this
moment they are defending the will of the people who voted for him and their struggle
against the fraud. Here they have stolen everything from us, education,
healthcare, highways, but the people feel that this is their limit, this has
them mobilized and it has the businessmen afraid. Those who supported Juan
Orlando threw gas on the fire and now they ask for everything to be resovled
with dialogue. They are the ones who created the conditions for this to happen.

I
have hope that out of this the possiblity of dialogue will arise, but not the one
they call for, but rather a National Constitutional Assembly where all actors can
be on a level playing field and where we reach a true social pact. Because the 1982
constitution was a pact between political and military elites, the people had
no voice in it. Now the people like never before have the level of
consciousness needed to pursue that end and they are willing to do anything. I
cannot help but be a little afraid, but insurrection is a right that the
constitution guarantees, and that is where there is an opening for people not
to have to live under governments imposed through force, and that is what is
happening in the country. The electoral tribunal can prounounce him President,
but he is being imposed through force, he is imposing himself through force,
through the military police and the army. They build that police force to act
as a political police exactly as it is behaving, and they gave the military a
lot of rewards in exchange for their loyalty.

The
tribunal declaring him winner is irrelevant to everybody. What the people are
afraid of is the participation of the military, because they aren’t just going
after those they think commit crimes when they protest, they are going to
people’s homes, launching tear gas, attacking little boys and girls, the
elderly, without any regard, that is what they were trained for. We are at that
moment. The people who had taken no position to this point are now raising
their heads and joining the expressions of the majority that are taking place
in the country.

What is the most striking thing that
you see in the streets, in these times?

Photo/ foto: Chris Jeske

The
people say that if they haven’t killed you through hunger, they will still kill
you after the dictator is installed, that they have no doubt that if he
consolidates his power he will have them killed. Terrible- one young man said it
just like that, that what might change is the moment he dies, but that this
government will kill him, because its
military targets are the poorest barrios. That is where they are most
vicious,because that is where the
people from whom this government has stolen everything live. That’s the
dimension of people’s determination.

And women?

Photo/foto: Chris Jeske

On
the front line. Everywhere I have gone they have been there. The cameras go to
places to take pictures where there are fires or striking images, but women’s
attitude is incredible. They have tremendous strength confronting tear gas, and
they go right up to where the police are, even though they have their helmets
and sheilds, their gas masks, they don’t care. The women go with their children
because they have to watch out for them, and they go out with them. It isn’t
because they are irresponsible like some say. They are in ther barrios, their
homes. The women go out with them to save them. In my whole professional life,
in my personal life, I have never seen people so willing to be in the street,
any government with the least amount of sense would have to see what is
happening and act based on that criteria.

What is sustaining the dictator for
this to be able to happen?

The
true rulers of this country. Although they are wavering because they are losing
a lot. We’ve been told that in Trujillo the ships that get to the port to pick
up bananas go back empty because on the roads between Colón and Atlántida there
around 320 banana shipments that have not been able to get through. This is
happening in many places. Look, yesm there are people that commit crimes, that
are looting and breaking windows, but that is part of the fury in people. The
media try to conflate the gang members with the people who are in the streets,
but even the gang members are the product of the system. They are the product
of the deprivation that the system subjects them to. They are Hondurans, and
they live here. You and I have may have been able to go to school, pay for a
house, go out to get food and take care of things, but there are people here who
have none of that. It is impossible to wrap your mind around how a family of
six could survive on a salary of $340 / month [Honduras’s minimum wage].

And the embassy?

That’s
another major actor, not just the U.S. one that always holds us down, but all
of them because the European Union is playing a role, which at the beginning
seemed separate from that of the U.S.. But it was an illusion, the chief of the
mission who supposedly is a progressive woman said some strong things at one
moment that generated certain confidence and expectations, but then since that they
have not questioned the status quo. There is a level of collusion between those
embassies, they see the country on fire and people killed and don’t even really
care.

With
regard to the latest from the OAS secretary, who we have no reason to trust, at
least they offer a proposal for a way out. But these guys are dead set on
staying in power. There is known scientific evidence that there was fraud, but
in the face of scientific evidence they close their eyes and deny the political
reality. I think that Almagro in the short term wants to justify intervention
in Venezuela and he needs to clean up his image, and the gringos themselves may
have given him the go-ahead, but we have seen statements from the State
Department that say that the Opposition Alliance has five days to submit
objections to a tribunal that lacks legitimacy. In this country neither the
healthcare system nor the educational system are functioning, the police exist
to attack the population not protect it, here a minority makes the political
and economic decisions and they want us to believe in that set of institutions,
to rely on them to take our objections to these processes. That can’t be.

I
have faith that the people who took to the streets in 2009, who spent over 150
days in the streets resisting the coup and due to bad decisions by some
politicians did not end up with a constitutional assembly, may now be able to
get one. I think of that as just a tool to build a social pact, it isn’t the
final objective, but I hope that the pressure on this man achieves at least
that. Despite the millions that have been spent on tear gas they have not been
able to defeat the population, yesterday in Villanueva they ran out of tear
gas, of the barrels full of tear gas bombs they were carrying. The smoke was
rising from in between houses, the white gas of their bombs. What kind of
government is that?

This
is an insurrection, and which way it goes I am convinced is influenced by the
Alliance leadership, because some saw in them a path towards some light, but it
goes beyond that; it is in the communities where orgaznied people amongst
themselves are discussing what they are going to do and testing leadership,
observing it and monitoring it.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

COMMUNIQUE IN RESPONSE TO DECLARATION OF JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ’S AS WINNER

The Platform of the Social and Popular Movement of Honduras communicates to the Honduran people, in this moment of grave national crisis, where again they seek to impose a coup d’état, this time in the form of a fraudulent presidential re-election, the following:

We repudiate the resolution of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal that declared Juan Orlando Hernandez the president-elect and, therefore, we reject the widespread fraud orchestrated by the National Party, the national oligarchy and the government of the United States through their chargé d'affaires in Honduras.

We demand the immediate resignation of Juan Orlando Hernández and all the members of his cabinet, who make up a spurious, illegal regime and are the face of an oligarchic dictatorship that seeks to impose itself through brute force against the interests of our people.

We reject the ambiguous and complicit attitude of international organizations that have tried to protect and prolong a criminal dictatorship responsible for the murder of hundreds of our sisters and brothers, and the repression and torture of thousands of people throughout the whole country.

Through this means, we call on local organizations and the people of Honduras to:

To take the streets, roads and public plazas. In the strategic areas, establish checkpoints that are set up with sufficient distances to wear down the military or police repression, until the fall of this spurious regime.

Maintain control over our territories, guaranteeing respect and safety for our brothers and sisters in cities and communities throughout the country. Fight smartly, with determination and without unnecessary risks to the lives of all those in the popular struggle.

To guarantee the sustainability of the struggle, by planning the distribution of food and all the necessary resources that will permit us to maintain what will likely be a prolonged resistance.

To create teames in each community in resistance to document, make videos and denounce all the human rights violations committed by the dictatorship.

To break the media siege by all possible means, using social media and especially our community radios throughout the national territory. We ask that when publishing notes or reports about th estruggles that we avoid giving names and filming the faces of comrades in the shots.

To hold with dignity and bravery every takeover site or popular checkpoint. The people’s victory is close and depends solely on the decisive, courageous and heroic struggle of the people in resistance

Only the people can save the people! Down with the dictatorship!

December 17th, 2017

COORDINACIÓN NACIONAL Plataforma del Movimiento Social y Popular de Honduras

Monday, December 18, 2017

COPINH DOES NOT recognize the decision of the electoral tribunal, calls for grassroots mobilization[Original en español]
The Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) DOES NOT recognize the statement made yesterday by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) which claims Juan Orlando Hernández as the winner. This decision represents the final consummation of the electoral fraud through which they seek to make a mockery of the Honduran people’s will expressed on November 26th, which is to expel the dictatorship and its corrupt cabal from the presidency. The fraud carried out throughout the process is clear and evident, starting with the illegality of Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH)’s candidacy itself and especially in the hours following the closure of the polls when the opposition’s victory became apparent. With their timid statements the OAS and EU have corroborated what the people have already declared in the streets - all of the irregularities of the corrupt electoral process and Honduran state make clear that this is the imposition of a dictatorship. The statement by the TSE is yet another affront to the Honduran people and we denounce that all of its members who were involved should be prosecuted.

*COPINH calls for the permanent mobilization and organization in the streets of the Lenca and Honduran people as a whole to make the legitimate demand that JOH immediately step down, or, short of that, for there to be a new electoral process with guarantees and transparency, supervised by the international community, beyond the OAS and also including representation of the Honduran grassroots social movements.

*COPINH demands that the armed forces and Honduran police immediately cease their repression against the Honduran people who are exercising their constitutional right to protest a government based on imposition!

*COPINH calls on the international community to denounce the violent and murderous actions by agents of the state’s repressive forces, which have already taken 22 Honduran lives, and to push for the governments of the world to refuse recognition of the criminal declaration by Honduras’s TSE.

*COPINH and the Lenca people are rising up, not in defense of a party or a candidate, but rather in defense of dignity itself.

For the blood spilled by Berta Cáceres and all of our ancestors, we demand justice! We demand the downfall of the murderous regime!

With the ancestral strength of Berta, Iselaca, Etempica and Mota we raise our voices full of life, justice, dignity and peace.

An Open Letter to the US Congress and US State Department

As US-based human rights, grassroots organizing, solidarity, and other civil society organizations, we are outraged that presidential candidate Juan Orlando Hernández was declared the winner in the Honduran presidential elections, amid serious and pervasive reports of election fraud and human rights violations.

We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, NOT to recognize the results announced by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

After the initial release of official results in the Honduran presidential election showed the opposition candidate leading by approximately 5 percentage points based on more than half the returns, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (or TSE, by its Spanish initials, which is controlled by the current administration) did not resume releasing presidential election results for more than a day. For comparison, in the 2013 presidential election, the winner was declared with a similar proportion of the returns in. Once the updates resumed, the incumbent, President Hernández, gained ground at a surprising rate and, quickly passed the opposition candidate, according to the TSE’s numbers. The long delay, and the dramatic shift in the tendency of the vote count reported before and after that delay, raise serious doubts about the integrity of this election.

In addition, international delegations from La Voz de los de Abajo, Code Pink, and Witness for Peace witnessed and heard testimony of violent beatings of civilians, the ongoing intimidation through use of security forces, including US-funded security forces, as well as numerous incidents of fraud and violence at polling places. On December 1, a presidential decree suspended Constitutional rights, imposed a curfew, and there have been multiple reports of security forces using live ammunition and violence toward civilians during anti-fraud protests around the country, resulting in at least 22 deaths of protesters at this point.

The US government has been an ongoing supporter and financial backer of the Honduran government, including supporting the 2009 coup which led to the right-wing National Party taking power, with Hernández as President of the National Congress from 2010-2013. Furthermore, the US has pushed forward the disastrous, failed Plan Colombia model for Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in the form of the “Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle” aid package. This 750 million-dollar project dressed up as an anti-drug initiative, has been used to create “favorable” conditions for outside investors, at the cost of militarization, violence and corruption that have actively contributed to the kind of deterioration of democracy we are witnessing in Honduras today. Just two days after the Honduran elections the US State Department certified that the Honduran government is meeting human rights and anti-corruption conditions, clearing the way for Honduras to receive millions of dollars in US aid. The circumstances around the election and beyond demonstrate clearly that the Honduran government is not at all meeting those conditions.

If the US has a genuine commitment to democracy, it must:

Not recognize the announced election outcome due to widespread reports of state involvement in electoral fraud and violence;

Revoke the State Department’s certification that the Honduran government is meeting human rights and anti-corruption conditions.

End US security aid to Honduras, including police and military aid, and support for Honduran security forces though the so-called “Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle” program; Pass HR 1299, the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act and its companion bill in the Senate.

Condemn the Honduran government’s violent crackdown of protesters and suspension of Constitutional rights, and demand the the Honduran government immediately cease using live ammunition against civilians and remove the military from the streets;

Extend Temporary Protected Status for the more than 57,000 Hondurans currently in the United States; and

Respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples (including Garifuna communities) and peasant communities organizing to defend and protect ancestral territories, land, water and Mother Earth in the face of militarization and repression by the current Honduran regime.

At this defining moment for the people of Honduras, we urge you to be on the right side of democracy and history, by urgently addressing the fundamental demands outlined in this letter. Thank you for your attention at this critical time.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Honduras Solidarity Network Issues National Call-In Day to Stop U.S. Support for Electoral Fraud & Repression in Honduras

On November 26, 2017 Hondurans went to the polls. The election was irregular from the start, with President Juan Orlando Hernández running for re-election in violation of the Honduran constitution. His main opponent was Salvador Nasralla of the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, and when the first results were released, with close to 60% of the vote tallied, Nasralla was ahead by 5%. One of the electoral tribunal magistrates along with statisticians, observers and analysts, declared his lead “irreversible.”

But then the system “went down” for eight hours and when it came back online, an implausibly large percentage of remaining ballots went to the incumbent.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

While in Honduras peaceful protests are being violently repressed, outside of the country the work in defense of the rights of indigenous peoples and the Honduran people in general is gaining recognition.

In the early hours of the morning, around Siguatepeque, the Military Police illegally and in violation of the right to freedom of circulation and expression stopped the bus carrying members of COPINH who were mobilizing to express our repudiation of this dictatorship.

During the illegal stop the military took photos of the ID documents of each one of us, for which reason we hold the government and its repressive forces responsible for any action against our lives and safety.

Nobody is detained any more, but they kept the car that our coordinator Bertha Zúniga Cáceres was traveling in and the military police ignored the mediation of the protective mechanism. The area continues to be heavily militarized.

We thank the quick response and so many shows of solidarity and we ask you to continue to be alert because we are alert her until the fall of this dictatorship.

With the ancestral strength of Berta, Lempira, Mota, Iselaca and Etempica we raise our voices full of Life, Justice, Freedom, Dignity and Peace.

The Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) of North America condemns in the strongest possible manner the violence and repression against the Honduran people defending their vote and human rights against fraud and dictatorship. A human rights observer delegation of members of the Honduras Solidarity Network (La Voz de los de Abajo Chicago, CODEPINK, and Marin County Task Force on the Americas) have just returned from Honduras where they were with the Honduran people before, during and after the November 26th elections.

The HSN understands the 2017 electoral crisis to be a result of the on-going 2009 military coup d’état in Honduras, fully backed by the U.S. and Canadian governments. In the 8.5 years since the coup, the HSN has joined national and international organizations in demanding a stop to U.S. and Canadian security funding and training, and other assistance from USAID to the regime. The HSN and our human rights delegation in Honduras are witness to how the years of support for the regime is being used to repress and terrorize Hondurans and the country into accepting a fraudulent election. The US State Department’s November 30th certification of Human Rights is another outrageous attempt to whitewash a repressive government in the midst of a political and human rights crisis.

The HSN has witnessed countless human rights abuses committed in a state of impunity. Honduran human rights organization, the Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared (COFADEH) issued a report onDecember 6, 2017 that outlines the abuses by state security forces. COFADEH has documented 14 assassinations (primarily by Military Police), 51 people injured (7 seriously), and 844 detentions since the November 26 elections. Just like after the 2009 coup, these mass violations will likely go unpunished and our governments, to date, have said nothing about violence, repression and abuses committed under the command of Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) against the Honduran population.

On election day our delegation witnessed vote buying and received reports from citizens of fraud and intimidation. One delegation team was the subject of intimidations and threats from the paid National Party (PN) activists at a polling station and when an official electoral custodian and a police officer intervened they were also threatened by the PN activists. We report this to highlight the repressive atmosphere during the elections, and therefore, the impressive strength and courage of the people defying this intimidation then and now. On November 28, 29 and 30th the delegation members witnessed and were affected by mass repression by police and military against non-violent protests outside the ballot counting facility. Tear gas was fired indiscriminately, and police and military beat protesters violently and dragged some people inside the facility. Furthermore, police officers report that they received orders to open fire with live ammunition on unarmed citizens during the massive mobilizations.

Based on our delegation reports, testimonies from victims and human rights and social justice organizations and independent media, we add our voices to the outcry demanding an end to all support, political and economic to the Hernandez regime, an end to the repression and continuing fraud, and no recognition of any regime imposed on the Honduran people.

We’re going to get started with this symbolic act. Today we
turn on the light of our hearts. The fire which symbolizes hope in the midst of
the darkness that envelops us. With this light we wish to illuminate the path
of solidarity and respect for human rights in Honduras.

Thank you for being here with us. For being part of this
struggle against the dictatorship that is being imposed in this country.

The Constitution of the Republic [states]:

Republic of Honduras, Title 1: State. Chapter one:
Organization of the State. Article three: Nobody owes obedience to a usurped
government or those who assume functions or public employment through the force
of arms or using means or procedures that break what this Constitution and the
laws establish. The acts edified by said authorities are null. The people has
the right to recur to insurrection in defense of the Constitutional order.

And as fundamental right guaranteed in the Constitution of
the Republic, we have Article 68 which “guarantees the liberties of
association, meeting, as long as they are not against public order and good
custom.”

Of the inviolability of the Constitution . Article 375. This
constitution does not cease to apply or to be implemented by acts of force or
when it was supposedly modified or ignored by any other medium or distinct
procedure from that which it itself proposes. In these cases, all citizens,
invested with authority or not, has the responsibility to collaborate in the
maintenance or re-establishment of its effective application. Those responsible
for the acts mentioned in the first part of the previous paragraph will be
judged according to this Constitution and the laws and procedures therein.
Likewise for the main functionaries of the government that subsequently organizes
itself if they do not contribute to the immediate re-establishment of rule of
the constitution and of the authorities constituted in accordance with it. The
Congress can decree with the absolute majority vote of its members, the
seizures of all or part of the goods of these same people and of those who have
enriched themselves as a result of supplanting popular sovereignty or
usurpation of public power to compensate the Republic of the prejudices that
have been committed.

Thank you very much. Thanks for coming.

Press Conference

Honduras suffers serious setbacks to democracy,

Illegal declaration of state of siege enables public forces
to violate human rights

Multiple human rights abuses and violations have been
committed in Honduras in the context of the recent protests realized in 17 of
the 18 states of the country. The “State of Siege” declared by the government
is illegal, and becomes a means of repressing the political dissent, imposing
an electoral fraud and instilling terror in the population in order to stop the
protests.

Honduras is today living through serious democratic setbacks
in violations of human rights due to the manipulation of electoral results on
November 26th. The political crisis generated by the State, has
unleashed a wave of protests nationall demanding respect for the popular will
and ratifying the rejection of the imposition of the re-election of Mr. Juan
Orland Hernández who is in violation of the Constitution of the Republic.

The excessive use of force has become State terrorism
through the different repressive forces especially the Military Police for
Public Order (PMOP), the Tigres Police, the army and the National Civil Police,
against peaceful protests, resulting in the arbitrary detention of protesters
and political opposition. We point to the existence of patterns of cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment. The Mesa
Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Board) expresses its
preoccupation for the assassination of two people and at least two dozen people
wounded by bullets just in Tegucigalpa. The strategies employed by the
authorities in response to the protests come at the expense of the rights and
liberties of Hondurans.

The organizations that make up the National Human Rights
Board, additionally document the attacks against journalists and media workers
carried out by the security forces who seek to impede the coverage of the
protests, the threats to close media, and the increasing climate of
intimidation.

The human rights situation is increasingly more critical
since the beginning of the protests, in which increasing levels of repression
of the political opposition by the national security forces are observable
alongside the stigmatization and persecution of people perceived as Government
opponents.

Because of this, we insist that the Honduran authorities
abstain from classifying the protesters and media workers as enemies and
terrorists – words that do not help to lesson the context of violence and
polarization and that, instead, further exacerbate it.

The information compiled by the Human Rights Board and other
public information available indicate that the anti-riot tanks utilized by the
Military Police for Public Order regularly launched hundreds of teargas bombs
at the protests on November 30th and December 1st,
including directly at the body of people, counter to all action protocols for
the security forces. This situation has been aggravated by the decision of the
Executive to usurp the powers of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE in Spanish),
slowing the transmission of fraudulent results. Despire the partial information
published by the TSE, President Juan Orlando Hernández declared himself
President-elect immediately, at the same time as members of his party made
calls for their followers to take to the streets and defend the results, still
unknown, provoking violence with the opposition.

The Mesa Nacional de
Derechos Humanos further reiterates that the candidacy of President JOH is
illegal and unconstitutional, given that a suit filed by the former Nationalist
President Rafaél Leonardo Callejas, only opened the possibility of speaking
about re-election and not registering for it.

The highly questionable action of this Tribunal, despite the
explicit prohibition of re-election, as a maximum guarantee of democratic
principle, entering into full contradiction with the Constitution of the
Republic.

WE express our most serious worry about the complicity of
the Supeme Electoral Tribunal in not carrying out the exigencies that allow for
a guarantee of maximal transparency in the process and we exhort it to carry
out a public recount of the vote tallies.

We have received denunciations of infiltration to
de-legitimize social protest, which has caused the looting of businesses in
different parts of the country. We lament the omissions by the National Police
regarding its responsibility to guarantee citizen security.

We demand that the Honduran state and in particular the forces
of public security and defense to respect the right to peaceful protest,
remembering the obligation to serve and protect the Honduran people.

We demand of the National Mechanism for the Protection of
Journalists, Social Reporters, Human Rights Defenders and Operators of Justice
to initiate an independent and effective investigation of the violation of
human rights presumably committed by the security forces and of the abuses that
have been attributed to the armed collectives or to violent protesters. This
includes the guarantee that the investigations initiated by the Attorney
General during the period proceed in a scrupulous and utterly impartial manner.

The Mesa Nacional de
Derechos Humanos will continue to be vigilant and in communication with its
member organizations and partners in Honduras for the necessary activities of
denunciation.

We call on international cooperation, diplomatic missions,
and friendly governments to be alert regarding violations of human rights and
demand that the State of Honduras fulfill its duties under all pacts, treaties
and international agreements. To the Honduran population we call for vigilance
and denunciation of human rights violations in any part of the country.

In the midst of the continuing economic and social crisis of
the country and the increase in political tensions, there is an elevated risk
that the situation in Honduras will deteriorate even more, for which reason we
declare ourselves to be on permanent alert and we announce that we will carry
out the necessary international denunciations and will publish a broad report
of these denunciations in the coming days.

TO the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Office
of the High Commissioner of the United Nationals on Human Rights we make an
urgent call for statements demanding that the State of Honduras respect and
protect human rights in Honduras.

Finally we warn of the consolidation of a dictatorial regime
that ignores the people’s will and imposes itself through force.

Partial Transcription
of Press Conference Q+A

First Speaker

…that the decree would come out, be published, or
disseminated through which constitutional rights are being restricted. We have
expressed that the issuing of this decree was illegal and unconstitutional for
various reasons. One of these reasons is that the government has invested many
millions of lempiras (Honduran currency) in this country to guarantee security
for its citizens.This has not
been the case during the protests. The state has the obligation to guarantee
citizens ability to demonstrate without acts of violence occurring. The state
has not guaranteed citizen’s security. Secondly, yesterday it was made clear
that in this country there is an absence of representation in the executive branch.Mr. Ricardo
Alvarez illegally assuming and usurping the functions of the presidency of the
republic has committed a crime. We urge the Attorney General to initiate
investigative due diligence and send to apprehend Mr. Ricardo Alvarez because
he violated the constitution of our republic. He assumed the Presidency of the
Republic without the president of the republic being outside the country. Mr.
Ricardo Alvarez, violating article 245 of the Constitution of the Republic,
assumed a presidential function that involved signing a decree of executive
powers to restrict constitutional guarantees without having the authority to do
so. We have two presidents in this moment, one Mr. Juan Orlando Hernández and another
Mr. Ricardo Álvarez – which implies a kind of de facto presidency because he
signed a decree to restrict constitutional guarantees in an illegal manner.
Because of this, this restriction of constitutional guarantees is
unconstitutional. On Monday we will present our respective resources before the
Supreme Court of Justice and demanding that the National Congress publically
control these abuses because it is the National Congress’ responsibility to
control these decrees that restrict constitutional guarantees. We fight for
Democracy and we make these demands of our Institutions — the institutions that
are, in this moment, not permitting the Honduran state and society to move
forward making a democratic state. That is why we are in this situation.
Additionally, it is important to make known the fact that before the elections,
during the elections, and after the elections we have been documenting all the
acts of invasiveness, threats, and intimidation against laws that pertain to
the freedom of the press. Especially, very recently, we have documented
aggressions and threats of closures of media entities like UNE TV. We are
calling on the authorities to cease these restrictions on journalists, media
entities. Freedom of speech in a context of political crisis is one of the
rights that should be the most protected, guaranteed, and we should fight for
the upholding of this public right. Thank you.

(passes the microphone)

(A woman calls on a journalist to ask a question)

Woman: Jorge Burgos of Criterio HN.

Burgos:

Good day. Social media has been inundated with videos of
injured people, soldiers and police chasing people, firing upon them with live rounds.
When will the Human Rights Organizations represented here deliver a report in
order to inform the world of what is happening in Honduras and how Hondurans
are suffering this crisis?

Woman in Black:

These organizations that are part ofMesa de Derechos Humanosare… (interrupted)

…individual human rights organizations that are part of the Mesa de Derechos Humanos are following the various
acts of resistance that the people are
enacting all over the country, and in addition to the continuous human rights
violations. It is not an easy exercise, because, as you all know, these actions
have multiplied, and generally all these actions are accompanied by repression,
persecution, indiscriminate and invasive use of tear gas, illegal capture and
detainment of people with the withholding of any information for their family
members. Also populations that have not even been part of the public
demonstrations but who were coincidentally in certain areas have been detained.
This morning, precisely, it was said on Radio
Progresso that more than 40 people were detained in the Core 7 (police
station). There were interviews of family members, almost all women—wives,
mothers—of those people who are detained. Information is not being given to
family members. These people have been through torture, these mothers, these
wives and there at Core 7 (police station) they are withholding information
from them. Many of those detained are underage, even under sixteen years of age
and thirteen years of age. We hope to have an initial report of these human
rights violations within the week. That is not easy homework because not only
are we documenting, but we are involved in many
simultaneous actions, but we believe it is our duty as human rights
organizations to document in the most accurate way and to deliver a report to
the media and to other national and international human rights organizations,
and demand sanctions against the Honduran state for these grave violations. So
we hope to have, maybe, within one week to have a preliminary report.

(passes microphone to sitting man)

Wilfredo Méndez:

I want to confirm that, in effect,
we have developed working groups to communicate fluidly with the international
community, Jorge. We are clear: the international human rights community is
fundamental to us and the diplomatic core. By way of luck and global solidarity,
we have received many communications from Europe, the United States, throughout
the Americas. From all these countries we have received messages of solidarity
for Honduras, and additionally of protection for the defenders that are in the
country. And we are in continuous, for example, right now, this very report is
being transmitted to the international community… That is one of our points
because we all know very well that on the level of diplomacy this government is
launching out to the world a diplomatic offensive against human rights composed
of lies.

(passes microphone)

Journalist identifies herself as
Adrian:

(inaudible)…How do you think this
situation can be resolved? In your opinion, what are the causes of all this
crisis? How is democracy involved in all of this?

(passes microphone to woman in
blue)

Woman in Blue:

We believe that the Supreme Electoral
Tribunal has in its hands the ability to resolve this problem, but of course,
it is readily apparent, right, that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is in the
hands of the current…of Mr. Juan Orlando Hernández because the demands have all
been laid out on the table: the revision of more than 5000 ballots, not the
thousand or so that…not the thousand that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has
said, but many others; the revision of the system, of the hard drive, all of
which the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has refused. But it is in the hands of the
current government, the government of Mr. Juan Orlando Hernández who wants to
stay, definitely. His intention, definitely, is to repress the populace and not
resolve the problem. That is apparent because he’s decreed and suspended
constitutionally guaranteed rights and that signals to the international
community that here there is no desire to resolve this problematic. They don’t
want dialogue, they don’t want anything.

(passes microphone back to first
speaker)

First Speaker:

The state of democracy is reduced
and hinges on this situation. There is an illegal candidacy that the
constitution of the republic does not permit. There is no will, no respect for
this popular will on the part of officials, and we have at this very moment a
candidate for the presidency that is generating this crisis, Mr. Juan Orlando
Hernández. Here, those responsible for this situation of democracy in crisis are
the three magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the president of the
republic Mr. Juan Orlando Hernández, the head of the armed forces of the
republic, the head of the national police because they are the people
generating repression, the Minister of Security who has been highly questioned
regarding acts of drug trafficking, the armed forces with a military police
force that has been highly questionable since they appeared in 2013. So the
democratic situation here is a structural issue in the country. We will not
recover Democracy the day that they declare the results, this democratic
situation is structural. So we Hondurans have the opportunity, in this moment,
to set out for ourselves the country that we want, the society that we want. This
situation is no longer just up to Mr. Nasralla to negotiate because the will of
the people is not negotiable. We are the Hondurans of this country who have to
lift our voice and say what country we want in this moment. Since the coup
d’état, we have lived 8 years during which the political crisis—economic, social,
and cultural rights— and the dispossession of communities of life and natural
resources has become accentuated. So in this structural situation, democracy
will not be restored in this moment by way of the vote.

So Hondurans should continue to
lift our voices to set out for ourselves, definitively, the country that we
want as Hondurans, which is not a country in which one person can concentrate
power and dedicate themselves to dispossessing Hondurans of life.

(passes the microphone)

Wilfredo Méndez:

I want to add an element. We heard
this morning that the Tribunal has said that the recount will be done with or
without the opposition’s presence. What we have expressed in other moments is
that here there is an ongoing process of validating an electoral fraud from the
point at which the Electoral Tribunal suspended information, or that the system
suspended, to place results in favor of the president of the republic. The
Electoral Tribunal has brought upon itself a problem on the order of Dante, and
now, independently of the result it can provide, it’s image is even worse than
before, and I didn’t even know it could get worse. But in this sense, what we
want to draw attention to is that all of the machinery necessary to impose a
fraudulent candidate is present. And for all that the opposition candidacy may
participate in a recount process—that they’re facing some difficulties in
getting and for which they’ve requested a special investigation—we just have to
remember how starting Tuesday the electoral process, the computing process, has
been manipulated to favor the candidate of the dictatorship. Therefore, we face
a vital issue that can only be stopped by citizens wielding their political
rights in the form of protest and the international community’s refusal torecognize a government that imposes
itself through fraud.

(passes microphone)

Woman in Black:

Adding a little to what my
compatriots have already laid out, I want to say that to speak of democracy in
this country is to speak of a chimera. The excipient democracy we had in 2009
finished dissolving with that coup d’état that was not reverted and that marked
the ascendant position and the consolidation of control for economic groups
over common goods, territories, laws, and institutional norms, bodies, and
processes in general – institutional norms, bodies, and processes that is
indeed solid and strong when it comes to guaranteeing the interests of those
same economic and political groups.

Additionally, what was established
yesterday, which we’ve denounced, the curfew, signifies a restriction on the
exercise of defending human rights for defenders like us who are here now, and
the hundreds and thousands of defenders that are throughout the country doing
this important work. Also, the Honduran state supposedly has a law…not
supposedly…but has a law that guarantees the right to defend human rights and
[the state] is violating it and impeding our exercising of defending human
rights. If they encounter us in this work…for example, at night there have been—in
that very dark first night, last night and this morning, such a painful
morning—so they will also jail us and imprison us and this violates that which
the Honduran state has disseminated so much, for example in the Examen Periódico Universal where they
celebrated the grand achievement that was accomplished in the approval of this
law and in the recognition of the work defenders of human rights do. The
Honduran state has at all times violated our exercise and right to defend human
rights.

(passes microphone)

Standing woman:

And in the same condition:
journalists and social commentators. Andres Molina.

Andres Molina (journalist):

I wanted to ask the leaders of the
MESA: the Military Police for Public Order existed throughout 2009, and at that
point it was still possible to have dialogue with some, some members of the
police and police chiefs. At this moment, there are reports of repression with
live rounds in various parts of the capital city, in El Pedregal, El Carrizal…well
in multiple parts of the city…there was repression in San Pedro Sula of all
places with live rounds, in the north, in La Ceiba, El Progreso, all
over the country. How do they valorize this because I’m asking myself, well
back in 2009 during the time of the coup, people were able to dialogue with the
chief of police, now though people who are protesting are engaged with
shooting.

Moderator:

Who will…

Woman in Black:

Carlos.

Moderator:
Carlos del Cid del Observatorio Ecuménico.

(Passes microphone)

Del Cid:

Very well, with respect to the
question from our compatriot. Yesterday we made ourselves present to accompany
the torch march which convened at five in the evening in the Colonia Kennedy.
To our surprise we found two squads of approximately two hundred soldiers,
TIGRES (Tropa de Inteligencia y Grupos de Respuesta Especial Seguridad –
heavily militarized special forces police) police, military police, already in
the area impeding the citizenries ability to express themselves through the
torch march. When we approached the official, Salazar, to ask why they were
impeding us, he said they had superior orders. The surprise was that
immediately, while I was talking to him, a motorized patrol fired live rounds at
a youngster who was yelling slogans. When we approached the official and
demanded to know why they were firing live rounds at youngsters who were not
doing anything more than being present at a march that they wanted to carry
out, he said It isn’t my responsibility,
those motorized police aren’t in my squad. I went to the other official and
again Those people aren’t my
responsibility. When I told them that that violated the use of force
protocol for the police, he told me Do
whatever you want to do about it. So, we are facing police and soldiers who
were already emboldened because they knew about the law—the decree—that would
be made public before it was made public. Now that it has been made public,
with all certainty, we will have soldiers and police that will do what they did
last night: fire upon youngsters, fire upon citizens who participate in any act
of peaceful protest. We will have, based on what I saw and how those two
officials treated me, many dead. We already have many detained, we already have
many injured, there are, maybe, four dead throughout the country, and others
that we don’t even know what condition they’re in. Today, I’m coming from la
posta de Belén (la Unidad Metropolitana de Prevención 2 in Comayagüela) where there were six detained youngters…I went to
claim them with first and last names, and they gave me the run around about
whether they had them there, about some procedure they were going through, that
they would deliver them today, but after 24 hours they still haven’t delivered
them to us. And we have to go from station to station without knowing in what
condition these youngsters are in, and without knowing what destiny awaits many
of the ones who are captured at night. And at the discretion and whim of the
official or the police who apprehend them, they might suffer torture, humiliation,
and even death.

(passes microphone)

Moderator:

Sandra Maribel Sanchez of Radio Progreso.

Sanchez:

I would like some of your comments
about what Article 187 of the constitution of the republic mandates. That in
addition to saying that it is the president who must issue the decree of
suspension of guarantees, as has already been mentioned by the lawyer Tabora,
it also says that by that same decree the National Congress must be convened so
that within a period of 30 days they full familiarize themselves with this
decree, they rectify it, modify it, or reject it. In the decree that was
published yesterday in El Diario la Gaceta (Diario Oficial la Gaceta de la
Republica de Honduras – state-run periodical) but that we know was actually made
public several days ago, there is no mention of this article, therefore there
is a breach of what the constitution of the republic mandates.

Well, before answering I would like to mention that we have among us Dr. Juan
Almendares Bonilla a man who is an emblem of Human Rights, so that the press
knows he’s here with us. If he can get closer…if not, doctor perhaps afterwards
the press can get your authoritative take on the moral and ethical dimension at
play in our nation.

Actually, that article of the
constitution, Sandra, is something that needs to be modified in the future,
because how can it be possible to be told that they have up to 30 days when the
timespan of the decree is ten days. What we are facing is a complete and
absolute irregularity, in which no constitutional precepts are established or
respected, rather it is solely used as an instrument of repression. Nor is
there any guarantee that the Congress of the Republic will even meet, or
restore rights and protections. So therefore, we are, as we’ve claimed among
the international community, a situation of defenselessness. That is why we’ve
said as human rights organizations, why we have not called, at any time, for
people to not protest. We have said that they are well within their rights to
protest—in their civil rights, and in their political rights.

Moderator:

Any new questions? If there aren’t
any more…Your name please and press affiliation.

(passes the microphone)

Fernando Silva:

Fernando Silva, Contra Corriente. What are the mechanism
available to the populace before all this climate of limited human rights, what
are the mechanisms available to them after six o’clock to be able to be
present, to have protection so that their rights aren’t violated?

It’s a very important question,
but we must remember that curfew is a state of exception, meaning a death
penalty, which is to say that this electoral coup wants to return with the
death penalty. That is in the first place. In second place a mechanism that the
populace has is unity, solidarity, strength, but I would also like to say
something here that I feel is very important. There are international observers
here, and one of them is the OAS (Organization of American States) and another is
the policy of the United States. We are a nation militarily occupied by the
United States, so we have to say to the international community that the
Honduran people are fighting with an extraordinary strength and that is moral
strength. But we also have to…I would say that the call of our people should be
to international solidarity networks, including the North American populace,
because here we have valuable people from the United States that accompany us
in these moments, that are in solidarity with the Honduran people. But I want
to say something very important. In terms of coups in this country, coups began
in 2009. There have been coups in the courts, coups all over the place—the most
difficult of which is the moral coup. Something very important that I should
say is that this is a project to Hondurize Latin America. Honduras is the
primary experiment, and the militarization here is so terrible that it consumes
a great part of the national budget and takes priority over health, education,
which is to say that the United States is significantly responsible above all
else in its interventionist military policy with regard to this country. For
that reason I condemn United States policy, not the North American populace.

(Passes the microphone)

Moderator: Are there any last
questions? If not we…Your name, please.

Tuscano:

José Alexander Tuscano.

Moderator:

And what is your press
affiliation?

Tuscano:

Personal. Personal journalist. Not
independent, personal. I just wanted to take advantage of the fact that the
press is here, and in view of what has been expressed by Dr. Almendares
Bonilla, before the militarization of the Honduran people. The people who are
protesting are defenseless. It is only their voice that is heard. Take
advantage of this media so that the people who are on the streets define
strategies to not risk their lives, define the strategy of this struggle. You
mentioned the constitution of the republic, the constitution of the republic in
Honduras, in this moment does not exist. The only valid article is article
number three which calls for a popular insurrection from the Honduran people
where all other rights are violated. My message is clear: to the people who are
on the streets, take advantage of this media to define strategies to not risk
your lives before live rounds from soldiers and from the security apparatus of
this state that, again, goes against the Honduran people. Get organized,
protect life, but not to let your guard down in the struggle to restore the
constitution.

Moderator: Okay, with this we will
give way to…One more? Let’s see, if you please raise your hand.

Person:

As a psychologist and also in the
era of communication and democratization through cell phones. I want to say,
how can we from within build awareness in the soldiers and the police because
I’ve talked to them, and they are aware that they are from the people…

Moderator:

Thank you everyone for your participation, you can approach the different
organizations regarding your questions, and we will give way to independent
interviews. One last thing from Donny Reyes from Arcoíris (LGBTI organization).

Reyes:

It is important to mention that Honduras has spoken, this populace has said
that it is tired. No more violations, no more harm than what they’ve already done.
The Honduran community living abroad, in the United States, in Spain, and
throughout Europe has come out to the streets to denounce the atrocities that
are being committed here.

Please, we believe it is important
that the voices, as Dr. Almendares said, that our voice continue to be heard.
It is important that we be the means of communication, the voice that doesn’t
extinguish this candle, and that you all, we all,become the voice of this nation. Thank you very much.

Moderator:

Very good, let’s finish with a
minute of silence with our candles lit. We conclude this press conference with
a minute of silence. Someone please help me with the time. José Luis. For all
the deaths that have occurred on this black day.

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News Sources / Fuentes de Noticias

Radio Progreso has radio updates (Spanish only) directly from the from the front-lines of the resistance in Honduras.

Une TV is one of the only independent national TV stations in Honduras

Rights Action has been doing good reporting and commentary as events unfold and has people on the ground monitoring the situation. They are also a reliable vehicle through which to get money to the organizations fighting for the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

Defensores en línea is the best (Spanish-only) online source for regularly updated information on the violation of human rights in Honduras.

Spanish - website of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras about the struggle of the Garifuna people and other resistance and environmental struggles.

School of the Americas Watch has good background information on the coup-plotters training at the Georgia-based School of the Americas / (also known as the School of Assasins) as well as news updates on the coup and a call to action.